I’ve listened to this album before so I can’t give it the true “Birds eye Review” treatment. Guess that means I’m gonna do a straight up old-fashioned review. Fortunately, I’ve heard it before and liked it; so I was looking forward to listening more intently. Right now Victoria, BC is a happening place for hip-hop and C.F.C have been playing locally for many years. This is their second full length album (as far as I know??) but I’m too lazy to Wikipedia that shit…sorry guys! I would say that I like this record a lot more than their first. Better beats, better rapping and a concept idea for the album too! The album art alone is hilarious/ridiculous and fits the personality of the band so well. The album starts up with back-to-back instrumentals (which I thought was a great choice) setting the tone for the whole album. The opening beat might actually be my fav on the album, it’s a ridiculously catchy flute-loop. When the lyrics do start, rappers Deep C and Stevie G seem to adapt to the beats with a breezy, laid-back style. Both have an old-school influenced delivery, mixed with stream of consciousness type wordplay. An amazing part of their style is how easily they can switch from doing a song in English to the next song being completely in Spanish, which is a very impressive feat. I’m not really sure what they’re saying in the Spanish portions of the album but I assume its something dope. Sometimes the rapid-fire delivery is missed by my slow ears, but the tracks on the album are filled with catchy hooks. “Latin American Destination” is one of my favs for sure, as well as “Leviathan”. Deep C’s hook at first is intolerably silly but after about 4 listens it is amazingly catchy. The beats are solid throughout the whole album with some great guest spots thrown in. The abundance of singers and guest musicians really make this feel like a well-rounded project. Also, some killer CanCon with MC Shad making an appearance and ripping a great verse. I really appreciate how they blend in lots of live instruments with the samples and loops, and the drums sound really full and fresh on most tracks. At one point I found myself listening to most of the songs and trying to figure out if it was live or sampled drumming. If I have to voice one complaint about the album (I do..hence the point of the review!) it’s that it’s a touch too long, but it’s not a really bad thing to get more than your moneys worth. Sometimes it’s nice to be left wanting more when the album is over, but all-in-all this a great slice of Canadian underground hip-hop and definitely worth your $10 or however much these guys are charging for it. If you’re in Victoria you should hit up their MySpace and find out when they’re playing next. These guys play a lot of shows locally and one great thing about the live show is that it’s a completely different experience than their album and always enjoyable.
Rating: 
